French Idiomatic Expressions – 4

French Idiomatic Expressions – 4

302- Daily French Expressions: traviole: crooked

Il fait tout de traviole: he does everything wrong
La maison est de traviole: the house is crooked

303- Daily French Expressions: 36 (trente-six): never or many

Il n’y a pas 36 solutions: there are not many solutions.
ça fait 36 fois que je te le dis, tu n’écoutes pas: I have told you that fifty times, you are not listening!
Je l’appelle tous les trente-six du mois: I call him once in a blue moon.

304- Daily French Expressions: le trognon: the core or cute.

Ils m’ont eu jusqu’au trognon: they had me good and proper!
Il est trognon ce bébé: this baby is so cute.

Tu as dit ça au patron? tu n’as pas froid aux yeux! you said that to the boss? I have yo say you have somo nerve.
Je ‘ai pas froid aux yeux, j’aime prendre des risques: I am pretty adventurous, I like to take risks.

316- Daily French Expressions: la zappette: tv remote control

La zappette, c’est pour zapper! the remote control is for zapping!
J’utilise la zappette quand il y a la pub: I use the remote control during ads.

355- Daily French Expressions: balle: euro

a balle is a bullet or a ball but is used in some expressions:
T’as pas cent balles: do you have 100 euros?
Une question à deux balles: an easy to reply question.
Une blague à deux balles: a stupid joke.

356- Daily French Expressions: Bio: organic

Aliments bio: organic food
Agriculture bio: organic farming

357- Daily French Expressions: du balai: clear off!

Donner un coup de balai: to make a clean sweep.
Coup de balai sur les prix: clean sweep on the prices!
Allez zou, du balai: off with you, clear off!

358- Daily French Expressions: hein? what?

Hein? tu as lu ça? What? did you read that?
Qu’est-ce que tu fais? hein? What are you doing, eh?

359- Daily French Expressions: Ze best = the best

We frenchify some English words: Instead of saying ‘the’, we say “ze” and it is not rare to hear “ze best”, “ze man” etc… a new brand exists in France a coffee shop called “Ze Bar”

367- Daily French Expressions: bourré: drunk

Bourré means packed, you can say that a room is packed, une salle est bourré. It also means a lot of: il est bourré de fric: he is very rich.
And finally “bourré” means drunk!

368- Daily French Expressions: à la bourre: in a hurry

Je suis à la bourre: I am in a hurry!

369- Daily French Expressions: la malbouffe: junk eating

This word comes from mal (bad) and bouffe (junk food), we use it to express how some people eat badly nowadays and the effects on the human body: en guerre contre la malbouffe: at war against junk food! The verb bouffer means to eat, it is slang but not rude and you can say it for any kind of food.

370- Daily French Expressions: avoir la bougeotte: to fidget

Tu as vraiment la bougeotte: you are real fidget.
Bougeotte comes from the verb bouger: to move!

394- Daily French Expressions: un coup de soleil: a sunburn

395- Daily French Expressions: le Farniente: lazing around

It is an Italian word we use in French, far: to do, niente: nothing!
Je fais du farniente sur la plage: I am lazing on the beach

396- Daily French Expressions: Au voleur: stop thief

You are on holiday in France and someone has stolen something to you,
to say “stop thief”: au voleur!
To call the police: 17 or 112 .

397- Daily French Expressions: Au secours, à l’aide: help!

Two expressions when something bad happens.
Pay attention to “à l’aide de” which means ‘with the help of”:
à l’aide de ma calculatrice, je peux finir rapidement: with the help of my calculator, I can finish quickly.
But: “les pompiers sont venus à l’aide de la grand-mère”: the firemen went and helped the old woman.

398- Daily French Expressions: Issue de Secours: Emergency Exit

The word “issue” in French has nothing to do with ‘issue’ in English, une issue is an exit or a solution.
This is the expression you can see written in France or also: Sortie de Secours.

399- Daily French Expressions: Porte de derrière: backdoor

Derrière means behind, back and also bottom, the today expression may be a play of words between backdoor and toilet door.